Assessment and management of physical symptoms is a major focus of palliative care, as poorly controlled pain or nausea can seriously affect a patient's quality of life. It can also reduce their ability to maintain physical functioning which then affects all aspects of their daily life.
The symptoms included in this section mirror the seven items being used for symptom assessment scale in the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaborative - sleeping problems, appetite problems, nausea, bowel problems, breathing problems, fatigue, and pain. [1] Further symptom pages will be added over time.
The pages are developed following an examination of the research evidence for the symptom as described in systematic reviews relevant to the topic. The systematic reviews were identified following a search for topic based systematic reviews in four databases - Ovid Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Embase.
Reference
- Kristjanson LJ, Pickstock S, Yuen K, Davis S, Blight J, Cummins A, Dean AA et al (1999). Development and testing of the revised Symptom Assessment Scale Final Report.
This page was created on 14 May 2008